“The Wedding Singer” by Good Companions Stage Society
Derby Theatre

"The Wedding Singer" is a musical based on the hit 90’s film starring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore.

Set in 1985 it features rock-star wannabe Robbie Hart, who still lives in his grandmother's basement, and is New Jersey's favourite wedding singer. He's the life of the party, due to be married himself until his fiancé, Linda, leaves him at the altar. Robbie is so distraught that he makes every wedding as disastrous as his own. Then at one of his gigs he meets Julia, an admiring young waitress, and Robbie falls madly in love. The only trouble is that Julia is about to be married herself to a Wall Street shark, and unless Robbie can pull off the performance of a decade, the girl of his dreams will be gone forever.

The soundtrack pays loving homage to the pop songs of the 1980s, and you will find yourself remembering some classic pop and rock songs of the decade from a few of the riffs in this soundtrack. This musical will take you back to a time when hair was big, greed was good, collars were up, and a wedding singer might just have been the coolest guy in the room.

The first thing that you see when you walk into the auditorium is a set of brightly coloured "flats" painted in the same way as you'll see in the programme that you'll buy in the way in (£2.00 - a bargain). It lights up the stage. This then gives way to the opening and quite elaborate scene of a wedding party, with all of the ensemble filling the stage and "Simply Wed" playing the opening number "It's Your wedding Day", and one of the best opening numbers for a musical in my humble opinion.

Tom Banks (Robbie Hart) actually learnt how to play the guitar for this role, which I would say is going that extra mile, and gets to show off his newly acquired skills to great effect. His boy next door appeal also comes over well, as does his leading man attributes. He has some wonderful songs to sing in this one but, apart from the opening number, I must say that my favourite was definitely "Somebody Kill Me" as he really delivers the comic parts of this song with gusto. I was not sure if the final "Grow Old With Me" though was in a key just a little too high for Tom as he seemed to sound not too comfortable, but then when he went into the closing number, he got back into his range and closed the show wonderfully.

Sam Ward (Sammie) managed to capture the comic character Sammie just right. Trying to get back into his ex's life proved not to be as easy as he may have thought but made for a lovely comic sideline to the romance with Robbie and Julia. This role is very different to what I have seen Sam play previously; the last part I saw him play was Peter in "Jesus Christ Superstar" where he really showed of his vocal talents. He proves to be a good comedy player in this piece.

Martin Counter (George) is another who gets to show another side of his acting skills as George, the camp band member. He pitched the "campness" just right, which made the character one to be laughed with and not at. Martin has several little comedy sections within this musical, not least his duet with Grandma Rosie in "Move That Thang" which brought the house down.All this and in those heels!

Rachel Clines (Julia) plays this role with excellence. Not only capturing the innocence and vulnerability of the character, as well as the strength Julia gains throughout the play, but also in the vocal department, making all of her songs really special. Anyone would be tempted out of the dumpster if they had Rachel singing to them.

Helen Perry (Holly), I have seen before and know what a lovely voice she has, I particularly recall her version of "Don't Cry For Me Argentina". She shows a wonderful chemistry with Julia, as the other waitress and best friend. At the end of Act One you'll also get to see Helen reproduce an iconic scene from another classic 1980's film. A wonderful dancer, singer and actor who gets to show off all of these talents in this musical.

Dale Hind (Glenn Guglia) makes his Good Companions debut with Glenn, and this man shows how to play a really slimy character really well. It is a tribute to his acting ability that I really started to dislike the character the more we saw him on stage, and that proves to me how good Dale is to bring out these emotions for the character, not the actor of course. I was expecting a few boos when he took his final bows, but none came. A great debut and I am sure a wonderful character for dale to get his teeth into.

Sara Evans-Bolger (Grandma Rosie), I love you for making me smile so much tonight. This is another brilliant role for any actor to get their teeth into because it is one that is embarrassing but at the same time a character that we would all possibly like to be when we get to Grandma's age. Long may you "Shake That Thang" in such a joyous way.

Cat Howourth (Linda) plays Robbie's intended who dumps him at the altar but returns later in the musical. Again I knew that Cat has one of those voices you just do not forget. Cat has a powerhouse of a voice, and as this rock chick she uses that voice incredibly, and only a hurting Robbie could resist when she looked as hot on stage as she does.

Emma Woodyet (Angie) plays Julia's mother, and Angie really knows how to be an embarrassment and put her foot in it. A minor but comical part for Emma, but played so comfortably.

Directed by Phil Simcox, the pace was perfectly paced and allowed the comedy to be received at it's own pace.

Musical Director was Tom Bond, and Tom delivered, as he always does a perfect blend of music to compliment the vocalists and at just the perfect level. After noticing in the programme the band members, I knew I was in for a solid musical performance from the band.

The Sound Design, which was spot on was by Rob Temperton, apart from just a little slip when we got a quick preview of Duran Duran's "Hungry Like The Wolf"... or could that have been Glen's ringtone?

There's quite a bit of choreography in "The Wedding Singer", especially in the actual wedding reception scenes and I loved the "Thriller" sequences as well as all of the other 80's influenced moves. Lisa Scott-Savage and Pauline Reader were responsible for the choreography for this musical.

Near the end by the way, you can have a lot of fun spotting all of the "fake celebrities" Phil Stanley as fake Mr T was classic.

One thing that did puzzle me tonight though was the spotlight. On a couple of occasions either the actors were standing just off from the spotlight, or the spotlight was positioned slightly off as the actors were just on the edge of the spotlight, which I am sure was not intended. Apart from that though the lighting design b y Stephen Greatorex was bright and colourful and made you feel like you were indeed at a wedding bash. Lighting operator for this show was Richard Symes.

These very minor points aside, I loved this production, and it deserved a more full theatre than it got on the opening night. And for those of us who did get to see it, how long will it take to get "It's Your Wedding Day" out of your brain?

”The Wedding Singer” is at Derby Theatre until Saturday 9 November.